If you were to imagine living the life you’ve always wanted, what would that look like? Would it involve winning the lottery, or inheriting a small island in the Caribbean? Would it mean quitting your job to stay home with kids, or having the opportunity to travel? Maybe it would mean being healthy or having a medical condition disappear? Maybe it would be having a good friend or two, or finding purpose or meaning in your work. Maybe it would be something as simple as just having things go your way for once, a day or a week without drama or some other disappointing news.

We’ve all dreamed of it – “The Life You’ve Always Wanted” That phrase flashing like a marquee just on the other side of where we are now, just out of reach, just beyond our means. But what if the standard we have in mind is not really what we want, or need? What if what we really need is the perspective to bring meaning and hope to our current situation? I say it time and again, we so often look for something of the world to bring us peace and give us purpose, but that is something God already offers. For free. All day every day.

This Lent, we’ll be taking a good look at what God holds out to us as hope. Hope for meaning, hope for purpose, hope for real relationships and real belonging. It begins with admitting we aren’t who we want to be, who we hope to be. I’m not the dad I want to be, the husband I want to be. When I look at how I act or how I’ve responded to situations, I’m disappointed in myself. Naturally, I don’t want to be, I would rather look back with contentment knowing I really outdid myself this time. But that happens very rarely.

I’m missing out on living the life God wants me to live because I need work. Soren Kierkegaard once wrote,

Now, with God’s help, I shall become myself.

He was acknowledging what all Christians know. We can’t be our best by ourselves. In this, we are reminded that we cannot become who we need to be simply on our own. To begin approaching this lifestyle, one lived in relationship with God and intent on living life fully, we have to commit to doing the work. We need to start training for this life!

This Lent, dig into John Ortberg’s book “The Life You’ve Always Wanted” alongside your Zion community.

The Life You’ve Always Wanted guides us on a journey beyond performance and externalism to a life marked by joy, peace, kindness, and all the signs of a faith that’s vital and growing.

We will focus on aspects of growing deeper in faith and life in our Wednesday worship as well as well as small groups of 6-8 people that meet after worship to engage in conversation about the topics of that day. Read along with a small group meeting at Zion during Lent after the noon or 6:30pm worship service, coordinate your own small group, or read along on your own.

Fare for All 2018

Fare for All ended 2018 on a high note on Tuesday, December 4. The program served 378 households and 616 food packs, a record for Buffalo and one of the largest ever recorded distributions in the 33 year history of Fare for All. Upcoming Fare For All Distribution...